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David, 79, said: “It’s incredible it has now turned up in my boat yard after all this time.

“My father only spoke a few times about Dunkirk but he told me Count Dracula was the boat which rescued him.” Ewart’s report brought home the full horror of the Second World War evacuation, recently turned into a blockbuster Hollywood film .

Boat yard owner David Wilson discovered the Count (Image: BNPS)

He was on the south coast to cover the Navy -led evacuation but could not just stand by and watch. He came across Count Dracula, which was skippered by a doctor, and they set sail for France.

With two 35ft lifeboats in tow, it lifted 702 British and 10 Belgian soldiers over a terrifying 17-hour period.

Ewart Brookes took the Count Dracula to Dunkirk to help with the evacuation (Image: Daily Mirror)

Ewart, then aged 40, did not tell his wife he was sailing into the “jaws of hell” to cover the story.

His daughter Jocelyn, 82, of Crymych, Pembrokeshire, told the Mirror last month: “It was not until he came back that we realised where he’d been. Mum was angry. But she was so grateful to have him home safe.”

The Count Dracula is now undergoing a complete restoration (Image: BNPS)